How many of you have set up shop in your garage, spare room or basement?
It never ceases to amaze me how insanely different the online world has changed the way the tshirt business, or any other business for that matter works when you have a "virtual place" to sell from.
Thank goodness I dont have to spent extravagant amounts of cash renting a real life premise, fixtures, signs, or anything else crazy like that, and that I can quite safely operate my beloved empire in the spare room
But it makes me wonder. Hypothetically speaking. Lets say you run the operation from a to z.
You build the website.
You buy the tees and create the art work
You make a tshirt to order when customers buy one and heat transfer it or what have you
You wrap and pack the shirt and ship it out down at your local post office.
And your selling hundreads maybe lets all hope one day thousands by the week.
Would you really move out of that spare room? Just how much space can 100 or 1000 tshirts take up? I mean, its not like were selling giant plasma tvs here right?
Is it not so inconceivable to be running an operation in the same room?
And if you did have to move out? Do you think you would need massive amounts of space? Or maybe something only slightly bigger?
Either way, I dunno why and call me crazy, I find it kinda neat and trendy to say 'I run my sucessful internet business out of the garage'
We're just getting started and we are working out of our house. It's just a pain having stuff stacked everywhere. I'm going to buy a small trailer to do carshows and festivals. A lot of our stuff will be able to be stored there. I'm also in the process of changing my garage to a shop. We just do a little at a time as we get the money.
As you grow there'll be more paperwork, maybe eventually a need for employees, extra pieces of equipment (all those accessories you didn't realise you wanted, but now that you can afford them realise make life easier), etc.
Eventually (if you're successful) you'll need more than just the spare room. That said, you can do a lot with very little space.
I have all my equipment in my garage and seems to work fine...I"m sure I lose a few braincells here and there because the ventilation isn't that great...I need an industrial fan.
__________________ www.identityburn.com : t-shirt design for the individual - coming soon
I have the whole setup in the garage as well. I am hoping one day to expand into the living room so I can have some A/C. It is hot in Texas, and it is really hot with a dryer going in a garage in August.
__________________
n o r m www.normsbrand.com - Saving the World, One Chest at a Time
And your selling hundreads maybe lets all hope one day thousands by the week.
Would you really move out of that spare room? Just how much space can 100 or 1000 tshirts take up? I mean, its not like were selling giant plasma tvs here right?
Is it not so inconceivable to be running an operation in the same room?
And if you did have to move out? Do you think you would need massive amounts of space? Or maybe something only slightly bigger?
Either way, I dunno why and call me crazy, I find it kinda neat and trendy to say 'I run my sucessful internet business out of the garage'
What do you think?
Thousands a week? dont see it happening with a heat press.... Not enough hours in the day.... Simple math here.... If you add more heat presses to handle that kind of volume and people to operate them I believe your room is gonna get a bit crowded.....
What is your web address...i love checking out other people
You can usually view a member's web address in their signature or profile (by clicking on the member's username).
If they don't have it posted in one of those locations, it's likely that they may not want to share it on the forums for one reason or another, however, you're welcome to send them a "PM" (private message) to ask them more about their site
Quote:
How many of you have set up shop in your garage, spare room or basement?
It never ceases to amaze me how insanely different the online world has changed the way the tshirt business, or any other business for that matter works when you have a "virtual place" to sell from
It's actually pretty amazing how many "empires" were built out of someone's garage. From historical examples like Apple, to more recent, relevant examples like CafePress.com (they started out by printing from the garage of one of the founders and now have multiple production facilities, top of the line equipment, 2.5 million members, etc)
Tshirt empire in a garage... 
